


For Better And For Worse

by Miikado



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Domestic Fluff, Fake Marriage, Fake dating with a baby AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Mutual Pining, No spoilers for Season 3, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character, Trans Male Hunk, Wormhole Shenanigans, baby!Pidge, idk how science works sue me, lance is great with kids, so much domestic fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-12 21:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miikado/pseuds/Miikado
Summary: “No offence, but there's just no way we can possibly keep a wire-chewing baby Pidge in this death trap of a castle. Someone’s gonna have to take them some place safe”When the green lion goes through a wormhole and Pidge is turned back into a baby, Keith and Lance are chosen to take them on a safe planet and act as their guardian until the team finds a way to turn them back.Aka the “fake married with a baby” AU literally nobody asked for!





	1. The Wormhole Incident

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Voltron fic and honestly it's been a while since I've watched any episode so please forgive me if i get some details wrong! 
> 
> NO SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3!!!! I can't stress that enough, my timing is horrible but i still haven't watched the episodes so this fic will contain absolutely no spoilers for season 3!! It's a bit loosely set somewhere in the canon on season 2, idk where exactly but somewhere after the Blame of Marmora episode but before the end of the season, and I heavily reference the first episode of season 2.
> 
> Please consider leaving a comment? I'm very smol and anxious and reviews are a safe way to make sure i keep writing! 
> 
> Also this fic straight up wouldn't exist without TheCookieMonster77 and totallynotapumpkindonut kicking my butt when i'm too busy lamenting about writer's block, so thanks baes <3

Lance knew something was wrong as soon as he set foot out of his lion.

The castle was silent. The castle was never silent, especially not when the team was coming back from a mission, as they had just done. The hangar was usually drowned in a cacophony of sounds; Of gears clicking in the tired lions, of cheers from his teammates celebrating yet another victory from Voltron, of voices excitedly recalling vivid memories of the battle they had just escaped.

But this time, there was nothing. No gears, no voices, just the resonating sound of Lance’s boots on the floor of the empty castle. 

Lance walked with caution deeper into the twists and turns of the halls, Bayard in hand and ready to draw his weapon at any sign of danger. But instead of potential enemies, he was greeted with familiar hushed voices when he approached the control room. 

“Guys?” He asked, entering the room and seeing his teammates huddled around with their backs turned at him. “Hey guys?” He pressed more urgently, feeling the palpable tension in the room.

Hunk finally turned to face him, looking openly relieved to see his friend, yet with noticeable worry etched on his face.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked, dreading each footstep as he got closer to the group. Whatever it was they were shielding him from, he knew from the gutting feeling in his stomach that it couldn't be anything good. 

Hunk hesitated. “It’s Pidge…”

Lance’s heart dropped, and with it his Bayard as it slipped through his suddenly still fingers and went clattering to the ground.

With those two words, Lance felt his world collapsing around him. 

The mission had be benign at first, and lulled by that false sense of security it has already been too late when it had finally dawned on the team that this was yet another trap from the Galra army. They had been separated, with no way to communicate with each other until they finally reached the castle again.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, and the team knew it certainly wouldn't be the last. They had battled through worse, more than once, and Lance hadn't thought anything would have gone wrong. He had seen all the lions back in their regular spot in the hangar, and he’d thought everything was just as usual… He had assumed…

“Are–” He tried to speak, but the words were clawing at his throat when he tried to get them out, as if none of this would be real until he asked the question whose answer he suddenly dreaded so much. Denial sure did wonders to his sanity. “Are they hurt?”

Hunk shook his head softly, but something in the way his eyes narrowed in grief made it pretty clear that things weren't alright.

“The green lion got caught in a wormhole.” Hunk explained. “The same type Allura went through last time we got separated…” He paused, carefully picking his next words. “The castle managed to lock onto the lion’s signal, and Allura managed to pull them out pretty quickly but…”

“What happened?” Lance pressed. He had to know, he _needed_ to know. “Is Pidge okay?”

A flash of panic passed through Hunk’s eyes as his mouth gaped open and close, unable to explain any further.

“Something went south in the process,” Coran cut in, and Lance realised that the whole team’s attention was now on him. “The lions don't have the same defence mechanisms as the castle, and it wasn't able to undo the damages from the wormhole…”

“Are they _okay_?” Lance asked again, the edge in his voice growing sharper because they still weren't giving him a proper answer.

“Strictly speaking, Pidge is fine.” Coran answered, keeping his composure. With a sigh, he added, “Well I guess it's pointless to try to explain this, you might as well see for yourself.”

And with that, Coran stepped out of the way for Lance to see what the group had been hiding from him.

At first he was confused, seeing no signs of Pidge anywhere. The healing pods behind the team were all empty, and Lance just couldn't see the green paladin amongst his friends.

Then he noticed it. The small bundle in Shiro’s arms. It had looked like a messy pile of laundry at first, but the closer Lance looked the more familiar the white and green fabric seemed. And then the bundle moved.

Lance gasped, quickly closing the distance between the rest of the group and him until he was standing right in front of Shiro, looking down at the tiny creature in his arms.

Was that a baby?

Looking closely, there was no denying that it was in fact an infant child cradled in Shiro’s arms. An infant child with moppy strawberry blonde hair and familiar round glasses that suddenly looked ridiculously oversized for the child’s tiny chubby face.

“Is… Is that Pidge?”

“I'm afraid so,” Allura nodded sadly. “The wormhole had similar effects as the one we’ve been through during the last attack. It somehow reversed Pidge’s growth and age back into infancy. The same thing happened with Coran last time, but the castle’s defences were able to reverse the effects as soon as we pulled away from the wormhole. The lions’ defences are much weaker, and although they do just fine protecting their paladins against enemy fire, it doesn't do good against space-time anomalies.” She looked down at the baby with a worried frown. “Thankfully the castle managed to lock onto the green lion’s position and pull it out of the wormhole before it was too late, otherwise the result would've been disastrous. Unfortunately there was not much that could be done regarding Pidge’s… Current situation.”

Lance blinked. “So…” He tried again, desperately trying to wrap his brain around the idea. “Pidge is a baby now?”

He gave another look at the child, who was now trying to wiggle itself free from Shiro’s embrace. The paladin let them down gently, making sure that they were stable enough on their feet. Immediately the child went waddling around the group, with the dubious balance and fierce determination of every child eager to explore their surroundings.

They couldn't have been older than one, give or take a few months—if Lance’s previous encounters with babies were anything to go by.

“Pidge is a baby now…” He repeated softly, as if turning that phrase into a mantra would somehow give it any sense at all.

“Wait a second.” Keith interrupted. “We don't know for certain that this is Pidge. All we know is that when the green lion came back Pidge was gone and that _thing_ had taken its place.” He sent a distasteful glare towards the child who was still too busy wobbling around the room and numbing into every piece of furniture on its way. “For all we know this could be yet another trick from Zarkon.”

All eyes turned towards the baby, and Lance was seemingly the only one to note Keith’s use of the word “thing”. Did Keith hate children?

Lance grumbled quietly. Of course, leave it to Keith to think he’s too good for kids. Dumb, stupid, too cool to like babies Keith. Typical.

“It wouldn't be the Galras’ weirdest attempt yet.” Hunk admitted, eyes still on the child. There was a hum of approvement from the rest of the group.

“Wait are you all just going along with Keith’s dumb nerd conspiracy theory?” Lance gasped, seemingly scandalised with the idea.

“It's not just a dumb suggestion, Lance.” Shiro frowned at him, using that stupid dad-voice Lance hated so much. “We have to keep in mind that there's a real possibility that—”

“Are you all out of your mind?” Lance shrieked, hands flailing widely. “This it's just any baby, it's _Pidge_! They’re a paladin a Voltron, like us! The green lion chose them and doesn't respond to anyone else! If Zarkon had tried to pull a swap, the lion would've felt it and that random lookalike baby’s butt would've been thrown into deep space before we’d even realised what was up!”

“Lance does have a point…” Allura seemed to begrudgingly admit. “It seems almost impossible that anyone other than Pidge could've entered the green lion, let alone make it this close to the castle without at least a few alarms going off.”

The group turned to the baby, as if hoping it would give them an answer. Seemingly unaffected by the newfound attention on them, the child kept making its way around the room, stopping only when it came across the shell of a dismantled sentry Pidge and Coran had been in the process of dissecting before the attack. With a happy little gurgle, the child picked up a piece of hardware laying around and immediately started chewing on it.

“Yeah okay, that's definitely Pidge.” Hunk admitted.

The rest of the group seemed to agree, feeling some of the tension in the room being relieved now that there was no more doubt that this baby was in fact their teammate.

“What do we do now?” Shiro asked, bending down to pick up the baby and pull the piece of alien tech out of its mouth.

The child started squirming in protest, making grabbing motions towards the hardware and letting out angry wails that grew higher and higher in pitch and volume with each passing second.

Shiro looked just about as distressed as the baby, holding it at arm’s length and looking just as close to tears as it was. Lance took a moment the enjoy the amusement of knowing that in spite of all the running dad-jokes they had about him, Shiro was apparently terrible with kids.

Finally agreeing to put him out of his misery, Lance walked over and picked up baby Pidge from Shiro’s hands, cradling them closer to his chest and making bouncing motions with his body in rhythm with gentle cooing.

When the baby’s cries finally calmed down, Lance looked up to find the rest of the group staring at him with wide unbelieving eyes.

“What?” He asked defensively. “Hey, babies love me, no big deal! I'm used to them because of my siblings and they work wonders when breaking the ice with pretty ladies.” The wink that followed was greeting with a chorus of groans from the team. “Nevermind that!” Lance protested, trying to ignore the slight flush of embarrassment on his cheeks. “What are we gonna do now? Can't we just stick Pidge in the healing pods?”

Coran was the first to regain his composure. “I'm afraid not. The pods only work for external injuries, and aside from losing a few of your humain ‘years’ it does not seem like Pidge was wounded in any way!” He explained. “By all accounts, Pidge is perfectly healthy, just… Younger.”

“What about the castle?” Keith asked. “You said earlier that the castle reversed the effects of the wormhole on Coran, can't it just do it again?”

“It’s not that simple,” Allura shook her head mournfully. “Last time the castle was in the wormhole at the same time as Coran and I. For it to work, the castle should've been wired onto the wormhole frequency at the same time as Pidge was going through it. We caught the green lion much too late for the castle to record anything that could help us.”

“We can't work by trial and error, either.” Coran added. “If the numbers aren't perfect this could have disastrous effects! We could further Pidge’s age regression until they simply ceased to exist! And even if we did manage to reverse the process, there's a real possibility that we could miss Pidge’s timeline by decapheebs entirely!”

Lance wasn't too sure what decapheebs _were_ , exactly. His knowledge of altean measurements stopped after quintents, but from the context he could easily guess that it wasn't something he was eager to find out.

“What about the green lion?” Hunk asked. The team turned their attention on him. “The lion went through the wormhole as the same time as Pidge. Don't the lions’ databases record everything? Like one of those airplane’s black box? Maybe if we can view the data from the moment Pidge passed through the wormhole we can get the exact frequency we need to reverse Pidge back to their original age?”

Allura seemed to consider it for a minute, before she nodded. “With the right frequency to wire the castle on, we can force a similar pattern into one of the healing pods and hopefully reverse the process on Pidge.”

Lance nudged Hunk softly with his elbow. “Great job buddy, you saved Pidge!”

“I'm afraid it's not quite that simple.” Allura objected. “Wormhole mechanics are obscure even to Alteans, and I'm afraid this might take more than a few ticks to get it to work. Like Coran said, we can't risk anything happening to Pidge in case of a malfunction.”

“Not to mention that the materials we’d need to pull off what is basically a miniature contained wormhole are extremely rare and hard to get by!” Coran explained. “We can check the castle for supplies but I doubt this is a feat that can be managed in just a few vagras!”

“So we start now.” Shiro ordered, taking back his position as a leader now that all the scientific mumbo-jumbo was over. “Hunk, you go help Coran and give us a list of what you might need for this to work, the princess and I will try locating them as fast as possible.”

“What about Pidge?” Lance asked, pointing a finger at the snoozing child in his arms. “No offence, but there's just no way we can possibly keep a wire-chewing baby Pidge in this death trap of a castle. We need someone who can keep an eye on them.”

“Lance’s right,” Shiro nodded. “The castle isn't the safest place for a child, and with Zarkon’s army hot on our trail it seems irresponsible to keep them here.”

“That's quite a shame…” Coran shook his head sadly. “I've heard a great many recounting about your human larva stage, it would've been fascinating to spend a little more time with a real human ‘baby’ and take some reference notes.”

The paladins stared awkwardly, not really knowing how to answer to Coran’s fascination with children. Thankfully they didn't have to, because Allura interrupted him.

“There’s no time for that. We don't know when the next Galra attack might happen, so we need to get Pidge to safety as soon as possible.” She turned to the control panel, tapping a few buttons until a hologram of a planet appeared in front of them. “I have a contact on Alovia, one of Xiohiri’s moons. It's a resort planet that's quite certainly under the radar of Zarkon due to lack of profitable resources for the Galra Empire. They host a great many species here so you’ll manage to blend in easily.”

She presses another button and the screen zoomed in and focused on what resembled a small archipelago. “My contact can bring you there and help you settle in. You’ll have to keep a low profile, no one can know that you’re paladins of Voltron, or else you’ll become an easy target for Zarkon’s fleet.” She added. “The Quulons are a peaceful race, they won't cause you any issues as long as you try to blend in. We can send Pidge along with two guardians until we've managed to reverse the wormhole’s effect.”

“You’ll have to play the part well.” Coran chipped in. “The Quulons aren't necessarily a suspicious race, but they're very attached to their traditions. Alovia mostly serves as a resort planet for couples, so we're less at risk of people raising questions if we pretend that the paladins we send have gone through the human trial of ‘marriage’. It's quite a fascinating concept you have there, and it reminds me of the old altean mating ritual of—”

“Lance, you seem to be able to handle Pidge quite well, so you’ll go on Alovia with them.” Shiro interrupted. “Take Keith with you.”

“ _WHAT_?” Both paladins screamed.

“You can't send _Keith_!” Lance protested vigorously. “Look at him, no one’s going to believe he has a child, he hates babies!”

“I don't—”

“You totally do!” Lance pointed an accusatory finger towards him. “Besides how’s he supposed to blend in on a vacation planet, he constantly looks like he has his Bayard stuck up his—”

“Lance that's enough!” Shiro scolded.

“Why can't Allura come with me?” The boy asked, dropping the heat and during to throw a flirty smile at the princess. “We can get to know each other more personally and she’d make the perfect loving bride.”

Before Shiro could scold him any further, Allura crossed her arms on her chest and stared coldly at Lance.

“I'll have you know that Alteans don't believe in such ridiculous notions as human heteronormativity and gender norms.” She glared. “My anatomy as a female Altean does not make me any more fit for motherhood than any of you.”

Lance felt his cheeks burn. He'd obviously been joking, trying to lighten the mood and maybe score a few points with the princess, but things had backfired quickly. He glared down at the baby in his arms, knowing for a fact that Pidge had to be the one to have taught Allura those words.

“Besides,” Allura kept going. “Even if it did, I can't leave the castle. If I were to go and anyone tried tapping into the castle’s system, it would immediately go into a defensive mode and take down anyone inside.”

Ignoring the snickers of his teammates, Lance asked again. “What about Hunk, he’s basically our mum already!”

“Hunk has to stay here and assist Coran with the wormhole pod. He’s the only one with enough engineering skills to understand what's going on in there.” Allura explained. Before Lance could open his mouth again she added. “Shiro has to stay here and defend the castle with the black lion. Keith will go with you on Aluvia and help you take care of Pidge.”

“But Keith can barely take care of himself, let alone a baby! He’s—” Lance protested, but before he could finish his sentence he received a swift kick to the back of the knee from Keith and struggled not to stumble with the baby in his arms.

“Enough, the both of you.” Shiro interrupted. “This isn't open to debate, you’ll do as we decided and go together on Aluvia until this matter is resolved.” He frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “That's enough for one day, go get some rest and we’ll regroup in the morning to discuss the plan further.”

With that, the conversation was over, and the team had nothing else to do except walk back to their quarters. Lance and Keith separated from the rest of the group, walking in heavy silence with a few steps in between them. Keith arrived first, stopping in front of the training simulator. He said nothing, barely casting an annoyed glance towards Lance before disappearing behind the heavy doors.

Alone with the baby, Lance let out a heavy sigh as he walked back to his room. The metal doors slid open in a silent whisper, and closed behind him. As he sat on the edge of his bed, Lance felt like his shoulders weight a ton, pushing him down into the mattress. With everything that had happened in a single day, the boy’s head was spinning. He knew that however this new mission went, the whole team depended on Keith and him to protect Pidge. Lance wanted to do good by his teammate, his _friend_. He’d give his all to prove that he was worthy of this task, that he could help bringing back Pidge. He desperately wanted this to succeed, and Lance would give it his best, even as the familiar gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach was telling him that his best wouldn’t be enough.

With nothing to serve as a cradle, he carefully set a sleeping baby Pidge on the bed next to him. They stirred slightly but didn't wake, and Lance fell asleep next to them soon after, dreading the days to come.


	2. Emo shirts and baby bags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith get ready to leave for Aluvia.

The next few days were spent mostly in preparation of Lance and Keith’s upcoming trip to Aluvia. 

Lance had long since stopped protesting about his fake marital arrangement with Keith. It wasn't like he hated the idea of spending some time on a solo mission with the red paladin. In fact, he was curious… His relationship with Keith had always been a rocky one, even way back when they were two students at the Garrisons with no idea of what they were getting into. Sure, he and Keith fought, a lot… In fact most their interactions on a daily basis were a succession of screaming matches. They didn't get along all that well, or at least not in the traditional sense of the term. Did Keith get on his nerves? Sure. Was there still this petty rivalry between them for no reason whatsoever? Obviously. But never once had Lance considered Keith to be someone he hated, and it sure hoped the red paladin felt the same way. 

He admired his fellow paladin, he always had and—although he would never admit it out loud—he was looking forward to being teamed up with him for this mission. And if the thought of pretending to be in a relationship with Keith sent butterflies in Lance’s stomach? Well, no one needed to know. 

“G’morning buddy!” Lance called as he walked into the lab where Hunk was currently hunched over a large panel of alien tech pieces. “How are things coming along?”

“Not great.” Hunk admitted with a frustrated groan. “I don't know what half of theses things do and I'm pretty sure we’re missing more than two thirds the supplies we need to even begin building the generator for the wormhole!” Hunk shot Lance a defeated look. “Sorry bro but it looks like you and Keith are gonna be stuck on that planet for a while.”

Lance shrugged nonchalantly. “Don't sweat it. I know you’re doing your best. And if anyone can kick that wormhole’s butt it's definitely you!”

“Thanks buddy.” Hunk gave a tentative smile. “I wish Pidge was here to help, we would be done in no time…”

“Well if you need someone to chew on a wrench while you work, I'm sure they’ll volunteer!”

Hunk gave a hearty laugh. “I don't doubt it for a second! It seems like even Baby Pidge has a thing for toying with alien tech.”

“Tell me about it!” Lance threw his arms up in the air. “Last night they somehow managed to climb out of my bed and reach an opened control panel in my wall! I barely managed to keep them from chewing on loose wires.”

“Be careful out there.”

“Will do, buddy.” Lance smiled. “I'm more worried that the team will fall apart if I'm not there to carry it.” He said with a wink. 

“I think we’ll manage.” Hunk teased.

Lance laughed softly, but after a few seconds his expression morphed into one of genuine concern. 

“Listen Hunk, I know this is an important job and all that, but you need to take care of yourself, okay? I know how you get when you’re working on a project. You get too caught up in it and you forget to eat and sleep.” He hesitated. “At least remember to take off your binder and stretch once in a while, okay? I don't want you getting hurt because you were too focused on helping us…”

Hunk turned to Lance, giving him a warm smile. “Thanks buddy... I'll be careful, don't worry.”

“Great!” Lance exclaimed. “Now wish me luck because I have to spend god knows how long with Keith stuck on a tiny alien planet!”

Hunk laughed at that. 

**xoxoxoxoxoxo**

Keith had been up since dawn. Well, more precisely, Keith had been up since what was probably dawn, according to the clock Pidge had built during their first few days in the castle. It was supposed to be set on the same time zone as the Garrison’s back on Earth, but it was hard to tell. It's not like deep space had sunsets to give indications of time. 

He'd grown used to being up hours before his other teammate. The castle had a different feeling to it when it was vacant, and Keith enjoyed the tranquility. He also enjoyed squeezing in a little workout session in the training simulator before anyone else was awake. 

That's where Shiro found him that morning: Sweaty and raging against three training sentries. Shiro joined him for a while, both joining efforts into battling enemies. Soon they stopped, breath heaving as they called off the training simulation. 

Shiro laughed slightly, brushing back the white strands of hair that stuck to his sweaty forehead. He walked over to Keith, who was breathing hard with his hands on his knees, and slapped a hand on his shoulder. 

“Good job, Keith.” Shiro chuckles. “It's been a while since we trained together like that.”

Keith shot him a smirk. “That's because you’re worried I'll kick your butt, old man.” 

“I'm your dreams, kid.” Shiro laughed, collecting a towel to dry the sweat off his face. “Are you ready for the mission today?”

Keith frowned slightly. “I'm not a child, Shiro. This is barely a mission, just a babysitting gig. I can handle it.”

“Sure.” Shiro frowned. “But can you handle of solo mission with Lance?”

Keith shot him a glare, definitely not amused by the black paladin’s words. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You two can barely stop bickering.” Shiro explained. “I'm worried you’ll be at each other’s throats before the end of your first day on Aluvia.”

“We’ll be fine.” Keith shot back. “I can handle Lance.” When Shiro only raised an eyebrow, he insisted. “Look, we’re paladins, just like any of you. We can do our  _ job _ , Shiro.”

The bitterness in Keith’s voice was palpable. It always came down to this whenever Lance and him were involved. Sure, their dynamic wasn't perfect, but Keith hated how the team seemed to be unable to trust them when the two of them were involved. They weren't children, they could handle themselves. 

“I'm just worried you won't be able to focus on the mission properly if you’re always fighting with Lance.”

Keith frowned. Sure, he often fought with Lance, but he'd always seen it as more of a silly rivalry than anything else. The two seemed unable to interact without pushing each other’s buttons and somehow ending in some sort of competition every time. Yet hearing Shiro, it almost sounded like Lance and Keith didn't make a good team. 

Didn’t they? Granted, they didn't interact as flawlessly as the rest of the team, but they worked well together and they always had each other’s back. Keith chose to believe that maybe they weren't perfect, but they made a good team, no matter what the others thought of it. 

“We’ll be fine.” Keith shot back, shoving his own towel onto Shiro’s chest and walking out of the training room. 

“Just be careful, Keith.”

“Shut up,” The red paladin smirked. “You're not my dad.”

He heard Shiro gasped in mock offense behind him. “You take that back young man!”

Keith laughed, never turning back but taking the time to raise his middle finger at Shiro before the doors slammed behind him. 

**xoxoxoxoxoxo**

“Alright paladins!” Allura clapped her hands and the hushed conversations around the table died off. “Let’s review the details of the mission before we go.” She turned to her right. “Hunk?”

“We’re making progress,” Hunk straightened his back to explain. “But barely. Coran made a list of all the supplies we’re missing to start building the wormhole.” He sighed. “I doubt this will take less than a week at best, there’s no way we can keep Pidge in the castle that long, it's not safe.”

“Especially when  _ someone _ ,” Lance accused, glaring at Keith next to him.” Forgets to lock the training simulator doors and has sentries almost mangling a baby.”

Keith kicked him under the table. “Shut up, it happened one time and it was an accident.”

“Nevertheless.” Allura cut them off, calling the team back to order. “We can all agree that the castle isn't the safest place to keep a child. We’ll resume our previous plan.”

She turned to the control panel in front of her, showing off the same map of Aluvia from before. 

“My contact on Aluvia has been made aware of your arrival. She has prepared some living quarters for you which should be sufficiently secluded from the main town. That way you should be able to avoid prying eyes. However you’ll still have to make an effort to be neighbourly, too much isolation could raise some red flags around you.”

Allura made a point to stare intensely at Keith and Lance, who was holding a babbling baby Pidge on his knees. The team had long since given up on trying to keep the child from chewing on any hardware they found. Any attempts usually resulted in loud tantrums, which were ultimately resolved by giving Pidge back the piece of tech they had just taken from them. 

“Sladar is the only one aware of the situation.” Allura explained. A mournful look crossed her face when she added, “She and my father go way back, and she’s the only one I trust with this information. I didn't go into to many details but she knows you both have some link with Voltron. There should be no need for any further explanation. Once again I can't stress enough that we can't have word spreading about your true nature as paladins of Voltron.”

The team nodded in agreement. They had all witnessed how quickly Zarkon’s fleet tended to turn up once they had a location on Voltron. And two isolated paladins with no lion and virtually no means of defending themselves? Well no one wanted to know what would happen if the Galras learnt about that. 

“Expect to be at the centre of attention for the first few quitents.” Coran spoke. “Despite the fact that Aluvia is supposed to be a resort planet, it's far less populated now than it used to be. With the imminent threat of a Garla invasion, people have more on their mind than planning trips.”

“To avoid suspicion we’ll stick with the original cover we came up with.” Allura added. “Keith and Lance will act as a pair of travelers and their child. This is a common enough scenario on Aluvia that it shouldn't raise questions, but do be careful to keep your cover believable.”

The implication behind her words made Lance’s blood boil. What, so she thought Keith and him couldn't pass as a couple? They’d make a great couple! The best couple! They would just have to act like the clingiest, cheesiest couple ever! That would show them…

“Don't worry, princess.” Lance smirked and threw an arm over Keith’s shoulder, bringing him closer to him and Pidge. “We’ll be so nauseatingly adorable, no one will ever doubt we’re not hopelessly in love with each other. Right babe?”

Keith shoved Lance’s face away, breaking free from his embrace. “Focus, idiot.” 

Thankfully, everyone was used enough to Lance’s antics to not really pay attention to them anymore, so no one really noticed the slight flush creeping up his neck. Maybe this was a terrible idea after all…

“Enough chatter.” Allura scolded them. “If all is clear you should get your things ready to embark, you’ll be leaving soon.”

**xoxoxoxoxoxo**

As it turned out, Allura’s contact had arranged for a pod to come pick up Lance and Keith at the castle. It would be less suspicious and less likely to be associated with Voltron than any ship on the castle. The pod arrived shortly after the paladins were done packing.

Lance and Keith stepped in after short goodbyes and words of encouragement from the team. The pod was relatively small, with a low ceiling that forced the two paladins to slouch when getting it, and barely enough space for them to sit in front of each other without their knees knocking. Thankfully, if fit all of their luggages—although admittedly there weren’t that many of them.

“I can’t believe you brought so many face products…” Keith grumbled when the pod departed the castle.

“Hey, we don’t know how long we’ll be stuck on that planet.” Lance argued. “Some of us here like to take care of themselves, thank you very much.”

Keith shook his head, spending the next few minutes trying not to fidget too much. The trip to Aluvia would take a little while, seeing as they couldn’t risk the castle being spotted if they came to close to the planet. The more time passed in the tiny pod, the more Keith struggled to fight his agitation. 

He wasn’t nervous. He was a paladin of Voltron, he was tough, and strong, and—

“ _ Dude _ !” Lance called in exasperation. “Will you stop bouncing your leg? It’s driving me insane!”

Okay, maybe he was a little nervous after all...

“Sorry…” Keith grumbled. 

“Are you scared?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t teasing, coming off as more surprised than anything. Keith was usually the one to head straight into danger and never look back, Lance didn’t exactly expect him to be nervous about a mission that, by all accounts, was no different than a 12-year-old’s babysitting duty.

“No!” Keith defended, a little too strongly. He sighed and admitted. “I’m just a little uneasy… We don’t have our suits and Allura made us surrender our Bayards before we left. If anything goes wrong we don’t have anything to defend ourselves and—”

“Buddy calm down!” Lance called, pressing a hand on Keith’s knee, trying not to think too hard about the way it stilled under his touch. “We’ll be fine. This planet is supposed to be completely safe. Zarkon has no use for it so we shouldn’t have to worry about an invasion anytime soon.” He shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like we’re unarmed. Coran gave us a few weapons that were less likely to be affiliated with Voltron, and you still have your cool Galra knife, right?”

Keith forced himself to nod. 

“The worse that could happen is someone taking the last Pink Lady if we go apple picking, relax.” Lance said, and when Keith gave him an odd look he just shrugged. “I don’t know what this planet is like, so I’m just picturing something like a southern countryside until proven wrong.”

Keith couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and Lance beamed proudly at him. The silence that followed was more comfortable, most of the tension having dissipated, until Lance perked up suddenly to dig into the bag next to him.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” He pulled out a small box and held it out for Keith to see. “Hunk gave us this, I was supposed to give it to you earlier.”

He opened the box, and inside laid two silver rings. Keith blinked in surprised, leaning forward to inspect them more carefully.

They were relatively plain in design, just two silver bands made out of what looked like brushed titanium, with no perceptible markings. Looking closer, Keith noticed the thin colored line that ran across the ring, a little off centre and closer to one of the edges. On one of the rings, the line was crimson red, and on the other it was sapphire blue. The rings were remarkable, simple in design but somehow still managing to look beautiful.

“Hunk gave us those.” Lance explained, slipping the blue ring on his own ring finger. “They’re supposed to represent wedding rings. We don’t know how much the Quulons know about human traditions, so that way we don’t risk blowing our cover as soon as we land. Hunk said they also act as transmitters with the castle, since we don’t have our suits to communicated with the team. They’re supposed to be untraceable by any radars they might have here, and they also only activate with our fingerprints, so we won’t risk getting detected.”

To show what he meant, Lance slid his thumb across the ring on his finger, and the thin blue line started emitting a soft blinking light. He swiped his thumb over it again and the blinking stopped. 

Turning to Keith with a small smile, Lance grabbed his left hand and gently slipped the red ring over the paladin’s finger. He tried his best to ignore the tingles in the back of his neck, or the way Keith’s fingers—the only part of his hands not covered by his leather gloves—seemed incredibly soft under his touch.

Keith said nothing, staying completely motionless and trying his hardest not to pay attention to the way his stomach seemed to jump in his throat when Lance held his hand like that.

Seconds passed in silence, and finally they pulled back, clearing their throat awkwardly and looking anywhere except where the other was.

“Uh… There you go.” Lance stumbled over his words. “Better play the part well if we don’t want to get caught, right?”

Keith gave a small hum of approval, not sure what else he could say without making things even more uncomfortable than they already were. 

Alright, so maybe he had a small crush on Lance, no big deal. He could totally keep it under control, maybe, probably. Sure, it might complicate things a little, but he wasn’t about to compromise the mission and Pidge’s safety because of his dumb stupid romantic feelings for the blue paladin. 

“Where did you get the baby hammock?” Keith asked, pointing at the front carrier on Lance’s stomach that was currently holding a sleeping Pidge. It was a stupid question, but anything was good at long as it distracted him from this previous thoughts.

It seemed to work like a charm, because suddenly Lance was throwing his head back in uncontrollable laughter. 

“ _ Baby hammock _ ?” He repeated, barely able to articulate in between fits of giggles. “Dude,  _ seriously _ ? Have you never been around kids in your life?”

Keith felt his face burn slightly. “Whatever… The baby bag,  _ thing _ .”

“It’s a baby carrier.” Lance wiped a tear from his eye, still struggling to control his fading laughter.

“Yeah… That.” Keith shrugged. “I don’t remember seeing baby supplies in the castle.”

“There wasn’t, Hunk made it.” Lance shrugged. “I’ve been around enough babies all my life to know how those things are made, and once he had the pattern Hunk was able to sew one together from scratch. He used old clothes and fabrics we found around the castle, so it’s a little mismatched but it’ll hold. See this spot?” He pointed at a patch of grey fabric around the stomach. “We used one of your old emo band tees for that.”

“WHAT?” 

“I’m kidding, dude.” Lance chuckled. “I couldn’t go through your things even if I wanted to, your room is always locked, remember?” With a devilish grin, he added, “But thanks for confirming that you did in fact go through an emo phase.”

“Shut up…” Keith grumbled, annoyed at himself for falling into Lance’s trap so easily.

“No way, what was it? Fall Out Boys? My Chemical Romance?” He eyed Keith carefully. “You look like someone who still knows the words to Black Parade…”

Before Keith could argue any further, the pod suddenly started shaking around, and the two paladins realised they were close to landing. They dropped the previous matter, focusing back on the mission at hand.

“Do you want to carry Pidge?” Lance suggested. “I can carry the rest of the bags if you want.”

Keith pulled a face. “I’m fine.”

“Keith, buddy. I know you hate babies but if we have to pretend Pidge is our child you might have to make an effort to hold them at some point…”

“I don’t hate babies, I just—”

Keith’s excuse died in his throat and suddenly the door of the pod was sliding open, drowning the inside of the ship in blinding light. The two tried shielding their vision as best they could, but it took a while before their eyes got used to the brightness. They stumbled out of the pod, half blind still.

“Greetings!” They heard a voice call, “And welcome to Aluvia!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This ends the first act, the second will start when they arrive on Aluvia. It'll be a little more action-packed and will focus more on their relationship!
> 
> I'll try to upload the next chapter before friday night, but I have to pack my bags so I can't make any promises. I'll also be traveling to Spain all of next week with no internet access so I won't be able to update the story during that time! 
> 
> Thanks again for reading! Please leave a comment so I know what you thought of this chapter!


	3. Specific human comfort needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith finally settle down into their new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a little over a month since the last update, I'm really sorry about that! Things got a little wild and I've had to move in and out TWICE in less than three weeks. Uni started again last week as well and I've been struggling to find some alone time to write... 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter anyway! Please leave a comment to tell me what you thought about it, reviews really motivate me to write faster :) Enjoy!

For the life of him, Keith could not repeat a single word of what was being said to him in that moment.

It wasn’t from a lack of trying, he really was doing his best to pay attention to the short alien speaking to him, but for some reason his brain was simply blocking out Sladar’s shrill voice until it was nothing more than some high-pitched background noise.

It’s not that Sladar wasn’t interesting. She had done a decent job at welcoming them when they had stepped off their travelling pod. But that had been approximatively twenty minutes of uninterrupted monologuing ago, and Keith could only handle so much chatter in a single sitting. 

It was quite unnerving, and although Sladar was nice enough, Keith just wasn’t used to seeing so much excitement in such a tiny body. She couldn’t have been taller than four feet at most, with scaly purple skin and a short trunk that flopped around with every word. Her beady black eyes never seemed to blink, but they kept darting from Keith to Lance as Sladar recounted yet another anecdote that had nothing to do with the Paladins’ mission.

Keith was fighting back the urge to let his gaze wander around. He’d been doing a decent job pretending he was actively listening to the alien, but every time Sladar’s voice trailed slightly and it seemed like she was finally done talking, only for her to start off on a different topic with the same enthusiasm, Keith felt the last shreds of his sanity slip away.

It didn’t look like she was paying attention to him, either. She did look at him intermittently, but her gaze was mostly glossing over him and she had mentioned earlier that Quulons had terrible eyesight. Maybe if he casually took a short step back, Keith could be just far away enough that she wouldn’t see him gazing off into the distance and—

There was a sharp jab in his ribs, and Keith’s head immediately snapped towards Lance. The Blue Paladin wasn’t looking at him, his eyes still on Sladar as he nodded slightly at her whenever the vocal cues suggested it was appropriate. But his elbow was still very much within distance of Keith’s torso, and as soon as Sladar’s eyes weren’t on him anymore he leaned his body slightly towards Keith—making sure not to rattle Pidge who was sleeping against his chest in the baby carrier.

“Focus” He hissed, making sure to keep his lips as still as possible. “If I have to pretend this is interesting then so do you.”

Keith glared, and gave a swift kick to Lance’s shin in retaliation. Lance yelped loudly, but Sladar must have mistaken his shout for excitement from whatever she was saying because she beamed at the two Paladins. 

“The whole town is so very excited to have you!” She squealed. “You’ll find yourself very comfortable on Alovia, yes yes!” She smiled proudly at Keith. “This place offers the perfect life for mates of all species, like you two!”

Keith tried to suppress the look of surprise on his face. He wasn’t certain how much Sladar actually knew about their mission. She had been in direct contact with Allura, and although the princess assured that she had used a strong enough alibi that Sladar wouldn’t make an immediate connection between the two newcomers and Voltron, it was still obvious that they were somehow linked to it. But through all her chatter, Sladar had never seemed to imply that she knew all of this was a ruse, and instead she looked like she completely bought into Lance and Keith’s fake romance. He wasn’t sure if she was that gullible, or if she had reasons to be cautious even in a relatively isolated area like the landing docks, but either way Keith thought it’d be safer to maintain their cover even around her. 

“But enough with that!” She clapped her hands together, cutting short to the monologue Keith hadn’t realised she had started again, and he felt Lance sag in relief next to him. “Allow me to take you to your quarters, I’m sure you’ll want to settle down before joining the festivities in town.”

They weren’t out of the woods so soon, unfortunately, and they quickly discovered that it was quite a hike to their new living space. The planet had some striking similarities with Earth, as long as you ignored the obvious differences. The sky seemed to be an unchanging shade of pink, with at least three moons visible at all time, and most of the vegetation fell on a scheme of shades from red to purple. The sight was relatively pleasant, but the air was heavy and humid, to the point where it was almost palpable. The more they walked, the harder it was to ignore the way their clothes clung to their skin and their hair stuck to their neck.

The walk didn’t seem to dissuade Sladar from talking some more, until finally they reached a small dome-like house. It was isolated from the rest of the village by a small wood of what seemed like giant aloe vera plants. At least that way Keith and Lance didn’t have to worry about prying eyes when they were inside their own house.

“These are your private living quarters.” Sladar gestured towards the little house. “I was warned about your specific human needs for comfort, and have made the necessary adjustments to your new home. I hope they’ll be to your liking, and that your stay on Aluvia will be most enjoyable, new mates!”

“Thank you.” Lance said, slipping an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “This is incredibly gracious of you, and I'm sure my… Err... My  _ mate _ and I will have a wonderful stay here!” He shot her a dazzling smile, distracting her from the slight hesitation in his voice. “Now I don't wish to be rude, but we’re both exhausted from our travel, and the baby will be hungry soon, so we’ll take our leave.”

Sladar’s eyes widened. “Of course! I do not mean to keep you from your duties! I'll drop by later to make sure everything is to your liking!”

“That would be swell!” Lance beamed at her, all but dragging Keith towards the front door. “Have a wonderful day!”

And with that, he pushed them both inside the house and closed the door behind them, leaning heavily against it once Sladar was out of sight.

“What are you doing?” Keith hissed, shaking himself out of Lance’s grip on his shoulders.

“Saving our asses.” Lance grumbled, glaring slightly at the red paladin. “She was about to go on another monologue and I didn't want to have to deal with it. You would’ve noticed as well if you hadn't been zoning out the entire time.”

Keith flinched at the accusation, but didn't back down so easily. “You can't just grab me like that whenever you want…”

“Dude, we’re supposed to be happily married and in love, how do you expect to pull that off if I can't even  _ touch _ you?”

Keith ignored the twist in his stomach at those words, instead choosing to cross his arms in his chest with a frown because, damnit, Lance had a point. 

“Maybe they don't know how human couples interact?” He tried, desperately grasping at straws rather than admitting he was wrong.  

“What if they do?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “We can't risk blowing our cover on a wild guess.”

“Whatever.” Keith grumbled and turned on his heels towards the rest of the house. “I'll do a security check in the rooms.”

“I'll make some food for Pidge, they’re getting a little restless.” Pidge started fidgeting in the baby carrier with a low wail, proving Lance’s point. “Hunk packed us some baby formula for the trip here.” 

Keith gave him a sharp nod, turning back and walking deeper into the house, towards the other rooms. 

The house wasn't too different from what you might find on Earth, if you could ignore the total lack of windows. Instead, the rooms were lit by some sort of bioluminescent purple fungus that covered most of the rough stone walls. From the inside, the house resembled a small cave carved into a giant boulder—which it probably was, seeing how it looked like a giant circular rock from the outside—but the layout of the rooms were strangely similar to regular human houses. The main room they had walked in gave access to a small kitchen on one side, and on two narrow corridors on the other. One lead to a shallow pool of citrus green water—what Keith assumed was the bathroom—and the other climbed higher into house, through a small staircase, and opened into a cosy circular room with a single hole in the roof that acted like a skylight, directly over a flat mushroom-like surface that must’ve been the bed. A few rugs and makeshift pillows had been tossed on top of it, and Keith guessed this was what Sladar had been referring to when she mentioned specific human comfort needs.

The ‘bed’ was large enough to fit two people comfortably, as long as you didn't mind close proximity to avoid falling over. It was impressive enough that the thing could fit any human without their feet dangling off the edge, considering they were so much taller than Quulons.

Keith quickly realised in horror that this was the only furniture in the entire room, meaning it had been expected that Lance and him would share a bed. It made sense for Quulons to assume they would, since they were supposed to be intimate, but Keith wasn't sure he was ready to put himself through that experience. Acting like a couple in public was one thing, sleeping together when no one was watching was a different issue entirely.

It took him a little while to check all the rooms for anything suspicious, and thankfully there was nothing to report when he walked into the kitchen.

Lance was leaning against the table—or more precisely the flat rock that acted like a table—with Pidge cradled in his arms happily sucking on a bottle of white liquid. Lance looked up from the baby when Keith walked in.

“Nothing suspicious.” Keith said. “Although there’s only one bed in the room upstairs, so we’ll have to make sleeping arrangements.” 

Lance nodded. “There’s no food in the kitchen, we’re going to have to go find some stuff to eat before nightfall. Coran assured the food here was comestible for humans, since the ecosystem here is close to the one on Earth, but I'm not sure I trust his opinion on this, what with all the times he almost accidentally poisoning us. Sladar might be able to help us out for the first days if we asked her, but I don't think I could survive listening to her during an entire meal. Besides, even if  _ we _ didn't get sick from the food, I'm not sure how safe it might be for Pidge here, and we won't hold long with the formula we brought from the Castle. They seem to eat Coran’s food goo just fine, but I'm not sure how this might affect their growth on the long term, and Pidge will kill us if they grow back even shorter than they already were. I'd honestly just rather check the market in the village and see what we can cook up from there.”

“There's a market?” Keith asked, a little surprised. 

“ _ Dude _ , you really didn't listen to a single word Sladar said, did you?” Lance rolled his eyes. “She went on and on about it and how famous it was in all of Xiohiri’s system. Apparently it has food for all over the universe or whatnot, I think we should be able to find something that won't kill us straight away.”

“Aluvia’s sun cycles are shorter than what we’re used to, we should head out soon if we want to grab something before nightfall.” 

“I want to wash up first.” Lance said. “I had to hike all the way up here with a drooling baby on my chest, and I think I got a stain on my arm from that weird glowing fungus on the wall.” He shook his head and gently pulled the baby out of the carrier, holding it out to Keith. 

The red paladin instinctively jumped away from the baby before he could catch himself, and there was a solid minute of heavy silence where Keith, face burning, tried to avoid Lance’s gaze as he glanced from the baby in his arms to Keith. 

His eyes widened cartoonishly, to the point that Keith almost expected a light bulb to appear over his head when he finally understood, and Lance pointed at him with the biggest shit-eating grin. 

“You're scared of babies!” Lance gasped. “That's why you didn't want to hold Pidge! You don't hate babies, you’re terrified of them!”

“I'm not terrified of babies!” Keith hissed, blood burning and cheeks red in embarrassment. 

“You are!” Lance said gleefully. At least he was enjoying this.

“I just don't understand why they have to be so  _ fragile _ !” Keith bit back angrily. “Those things are a ticking time bombs, you can't just expect me to be comfortable around them! They get sick at the slightest thing and their heads have a freaking self destroy button that you can just accidentally press at random and that’s just  _ weird _ !”

“Keith, buddy, chill out.” Lance laughed softly. “I'm just teasing you, it's fine! It's okay to be scared if you’ve never been around babies before.” He glanced down at Pidge, babbling happily in his arms, and back at Keith. “Here, I can help you…”

“No thanks.” Keith eyed the baby suspiciously. “I'm good.”

“Dude, how do you expect to pretend you’re a father if you can't even hold your own child without freaking out?” Keith tried to argue but Lance cut him off. “It's fine, you just need to relax a little, here...”

He held out Pidge again, this time more slowly, guiding Keith’s hands so he was holding the baby properly, and kept his hands on his for support.

“See? You’re doing great!” He exclaimed proudly, pulling away. “I told you there was nothing to be afraid of. This is just our regular tiny Pidge, our small Pigeon… Our little Pigeotto, if you will.”

Keith stared at the baby in distrust, like he would a wild animal who might pounce at any second. “I'm sure they can smell fear…”

Lance burst out laughing, and Keith couldn't help the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips at the sound of the blue paladin’s laughter. 

“I'm gonna go clean up.” Lance said, wiping the tears away and finally regaining his composure. 

“What?!” Keith gasps, his hold slipping on Pidge’s sides, but he quickly readjusted before they could drop. “You can't just leave me alone with a baby after teaching me how to hold it for barely two freaking seconds!”

Lance chuckled. “You’ll be fine, just don't drop them and everything will be okay. They’re not gonna bite...” He stopped for a second, considering the baby. “They might bite.” He conceded. “We’re working on biting.” 

Before Keith could protest any further, Lance patted his shoulder in support and slipped away into the bathroom, leaving the red paladin standing awkwardly with Pidge in his arms. 

“Uhm…” Keith looked around uncomfortably, casting a tentative glance at the baby. “How’s it going?”

Pidge looked about as distressed as Keith felt, and they immediately started crying, a slow wail that build up with every passing second, louder and louder. Keith felt himself panicking, and he was just about to start echoing Pidge’s screaming when Lance emerged from the bathroom again. 

Keith was too relieved to feel embarrassed when the words ‘ _ my saviour’ _ were the first thing to pop in his head as Lance picked the baby out of his arms. 

“I think that’s enough getting acquaintanced with the baby for today, you look like you’re about to burst.”

Keith almost visibly melted in relief as soon as the baby was out of his grasp, and Lance chuckled again, unable to hold back his amusement. 

“Are you ready to go?” Keith asked, slightly miffed that he was once again the butt of the joke. Stupid Lance and his stupid good skills with baby. 

“Yeah, I'm good.” Lance smiled. “I just think we should go over our cover once again before we go in public.” 

“It's not that complicated.” Keith rolled his eyes. “We’re married and we have a baby, what’s there to go over?”

“I meant we should go over how to  _ act _ to make our cover believable.” Lance pressed. “It's not good enough to say we’re married and hope people don't raise questions when you nearly rip my arm out of its socket every time I touch you. Even if they don't know about human customs, they’re not blind, and they’ll figure out something is up when you can't hide that you hate me.”

“I–What?” Keith asked, mouth gaping in surprise. “Lance…” He stared at the blue Paladin, who was purposely avoiding his gaze. “Lance I don’t… I don't hate you…” He said slowly, like he was trying to explain a difficult concept. His head was reeling slightly from the sudden change of topic. Did Lance really believe that?

“It's fine, man.” Lance shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant but still refusing to look Keith in the eyes, instead focusing his attention on Pidge. “I know I'm not your favourite person in the world, and it sucks that we’re stuck in a weird castle-ship in space together, and now there’s this mission and I know you didn't want to be paired with me. I  _ get _ it, and I don't blame you, you don't have to like me as long as it doesn't affect the team, and—”

“Lance.” Keith cut him off firmly. He knew how Lance got when he got into his own head, and the last thing Keith wanted was for him to start spiralling. “You’re the one who didn't want to go on this mission with me, I didn't even get a word in during the meeting!” 

“Yeah, but—”

“I’ve never  _ hated _ you!” Keith kept talking. “Sure, you’re annoying and you talk too much, but you’re a great paladin and I trust you. I–” He hesitates slightly, suddenly feeling bashful. “I don't hate you. I like you, we’re friends.”

Lance was silent for a moment, staring at Keith like he had slapped him in the face. Keith could feel his cheeks burning slightly, but he ignored it. He hadn't meant to be so candid, but if that was what Lance needed to ease his insecurities, he could live with it. As long as he didn't make a habit of it. 

Slowly, Lance rolled his shoulders and seemed to relax a little. Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he shot Keith a lopsided smile.

“Keith, buddy, I really didn't expect such a poignant confession from you…”

Keith made a disgusted noise. “I take that back, I do hate you.” He said, pushing past Lance and walking away. 

Lance laughed, catching Keith’s wrist before he could get out of reach. 

“Okay, okay sorry!” He chuckled. “Fine, you don't hate me! But you’re still not the touchy-feely type, and neither of us is really used to  _ this _ .” He gestured at the space between the both of them, as if that was supposed to make his point clearer. It didn't. “I think we should at least agree on some boundaries. Like, what proximity is fine with the both of us, and what’s a big no-no. We want to be believable but I’d also rather avoid a major freak out if one of us pushes things too far.”

Keith hummed. Boundaries seemed like a safe bet.

They sat around the stone table in the middle of the living room, with Pidge still propped against Lance’s chest, dozing off now that they had eaten.

“Alright, so how far are you willing to go?” Lance asked.

“What?” Keith gapped, feeling his face burn slightly. 

“Wha—Not like  _ that _ ! Jesus, Keith!” Lance huffed, but his ears were flushed red and he suddenly couldn't bring himself to look Keith in the eyes. “I mean how much touching is okay with you! It's not like they’re gonna ask us to grope each other in public!”

Keith cleared his throat. “Can't we just skip the touching altogether?” He really didn't want to deal with any situation where Lance was being even more touchy than he usually was. 

“You’re gonna have to give me  _ something _ , buddy. At least don't shrug my arm off when I put it on your shoulders. That seems like the bare minimum.” 

“Fine.” Keith grunted. 

“What about holding hands? I feel like it's a clear message without being too showy…”

“Whatever.”

“We might have to work on our proximity, I guess. Couples don't usually stand five feet apart from each other. In some extreme cases we might have to result to cheek kisses, but we don't have to go much farther than that… We don't want to be that annoying PDA couple and—Hey! Are you even listening to me, man?”

“Yes!” Keith hissed, focusing his eyes on the rough surface of the table. 

Lance blinked. “Wait, are you being  _ shy _ ?” And damn it that bastard was really enjoying himself, wasn't he. 

Keith could feel that his entire face was on fire, but he tried to keep his composure nonetheless. “Let’s just get it over with.”

“Aww, Keith! I didn't take you for the timid kind! Don't worry, I'm a great kisser, you’ll have the time of your life.”

Keith wasn't too sure how he didn't spontaneously combust at that, and he hated Lance for putting those images in his head. 

“You’re gonna make me barf.” He said, more annoyed than ever, and he hated how his face would suddenly flush whenever Lance talked about  _ touching _ and  _ kissing _ . It felt like Keith was losing at this somehow, because  _ of course _ it would be a competition between them. 

Lance laughed, obviously proud of himself despite his own reddened cheeks. 

“Okay, fine, no kissing for you then!” He said, and that son of a bitch had the guts to wink, damn him. “You don't know what you’re missing.”

“Somehow, I'll live.” Keith deadpanned. 

Lance’s smile softened, and he cast his eyes down on the table, voice gentle and no longer teasing when he spoke again.

“Listen, I know this isn't ideal, and neither of us is a natural at this—I mean I'm obviously better than you, because I'm gorgeous and charming and you’re just a weird hermit with a mullet, I mean who  _ wouldn't _ want to be with me when I have all this, and—”

“Lance.” Keith warned. 

“Uh?” Lance looked up, only then realising that he had gotten sidetracked and was babbling. “Whatever. My point is that even though this is our mission and we didn't really get a say in any of this, I want to do this  _ right _ . But it shouldn't be at the expense of each other’s consent or whatever, and I don't want to do anything you wouldn't be comfortable with.”

Lance's gaze was intense now, searching an answer within Keith, and he seemed so genuine in his words that Keith just didn't find it in him to be defensive. This wasn't Lance teasing him about being shy, this was Lance being sincerely worried about pushing Keith into something he wasn't comfortable with. The Red Paladin felt something warm in the pit of his stomach, and he relaxed a little, somehow feeling like the mission wouldn't be as insurmountable as he originally thought.

“I’m fine.” Keith said. “Don't worry. I–I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”

“Good.” Lance said softly. “I don't want things to get weird between us, we make a good team.”

The warm feeling in Keith’s stomach dropped almost instantaneously, replaced by the usual ball of anxiety and dread. Because, damn it, it was already weird, wasn't it? They were supposed to act like a couple for the  _ mission _ —all that to protect Pidge—and Keith couldn't get over the fond look Lance was giving him at that moment. He mentally cursed Lance for messing up his feelings, and himself for apparently being literally too gay to function. Stupid Lance. Stupid crush. Stupid planet. Stupid stupid  _ stupid _ . 

“We should go.” Keith stood up suddenly, avoiding looking at Lance. 

Lance didn't seem to notice, because he stood up cheerfully, securing Pidge on his chest and pointing dramatically towards the front door. 

“Onwards, Paladin! To the market!”


End file.
